The Pallas cat is a small cat living in central Asia. The cat is approximately the size of a domestic cat but the Pallas cat is more stocky build and has a much thicker fur that enables the cat to live in a climate with temperatures plummeting to -50°C. The thick fur is one of the reasons this cat has been a popular game for hunters in the past. Nowadays there are other threats to the Pallas cat. One of the major threats today is the reduction of food sources.

Lower urinary tract diseases are a common problem in cats all over the world. The symptoms are for example dysuria, pollakuria, stranguria, periuria and hematuria. In approximately two thirds of these cats the underlying cause is not known and the disease is therefore called feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC). We need to know more about the disease to get a consistently effective treatment and prevention. A retrospective study was performed in 50 cats with symptoms of FIC and where other causes of inflammation were ruled out. Data like breed, age, sex, body weight, feeding, therapy and therapeutic results were collected, also if it was an indoor or outdoor cat, duration of the symptoms, if there was any stress and if the cat was living with another cat.

The cat is one of our most common pets. Understanding the reproductive physiology of the queen is important, not only for the knowledge of our domestic cats but also for wild undomesticated feline species, many of which have been reported endangered. Understanding the mechanisms behind the estrous cycle, ovulation and pregnancy is also important for handling the feral cat populations that are a problem in several countries. The purpose of this literature study is to look into the hormonal patterns of the reproductive physiology of the female cat, with focus on ovulation, pregnancy and pseudo-pregnancy, and from this information determine in which fields more research would be needed. The female cat is seasonally polyestrous in Sweden, meaning that she can have several estrous cycles during the breeding season but goes through a long period of reproductive dormancy during the darker months of the year. The queen is considered an induced ovulator, with copulation triggering the release of luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary gland needed for ovulation.

Obesity is a growing global health problem among both humans and cats with the risk of several medical conditions as a result. This can be detected and prevented by body condition assessment methods in order to visualize and detect possible or potential weight problems in cats.To achieve the best results, owner and cat should be introduced to this as soon as possible in their contact with veterinary care.Purina Body Condition System and Walthams Feline Body Mass Index are both morphometric assessment methods that are quick, relatively cheap and simple to perform. 20 cats with owners and a veterinary nurse student participated in a study to compare pet owners and a veterinary nurse student's assessment of the Purina Body Condition System and WALTHAM's Feline Body Mass Index. The body condition assessment methods were compared with each other, and it was investigated which method was preferred, the body condition distribution among the studied cats and if long-haired cats' body condition was more often misjudged. Results of the study showed a significant difference between pet owners and the veterinary nurse student's assessment of Purina BCS with a difference in median of 1.

The relationship between the pet and it's owner is a very important and interesting issue. Unfortunately there is not so much research on this and in addition to that Swedish veterinarian education does not put much emphasis on pet's role in society or their pattern of behaviour nor treatment. This thesis is based on an opinion poll that 20 dog owners and 20 cat owners contributed. The main purpose of the thesis was to compare the relationships that the pet (dog or cat) and its owner can have. The issues such as the pet owner's attitude to his/her pet, how the pet owner percieves and interprets the signals from the animal, and what they think about the natural behaviours and needs that their pets (might) have. The results show that dog- and cat owners are people who generally love animals, that they used to have even other animal species in the past, but when it comes to choice between a new dog or a new cat they choose the one that they previously have had and that they are used to. Most of a dog owners choose the dog to be their pet because of the company while the majority of a cat owners choose cat because cats are independent and they are used to cats.

Pheromones are chemical substances representing very specific signal messages within a species. Although a lot remains unknown about their precise effects, it is known that pheromones influence the behaviour of the receiver. Since the mid 1990s, when it was first possible to synthesise analogues of two fractions of feline facial pheromone, F3 (Feliway®) and F4 (Felifriend®), these have been used in so called pheromonotherapy to treat behavioural problems in cats. The initial use of pheromones for specific behavioural problems has been extended to cover the wide field of stress related issues. This studycontains a questionnaire where veterinary nurses and surgeons at 50 Swedish veterinary hospitals and clinics were asked about their use of synthetic analogues to feline facial pheromones in the care and treatment of cats.

The aim of this study was to investigate and gain a deeper understanding of how the staff at the youth clinic approaches, and might influence, participation and responsibility as regards the girl and boy respectively in the process that follows when an unplanned pregnancy has been verified. Qualitative interviews were carried out with staff at five youth clinics in Skåne. All staff did routinely work with girls and boys that were involved in an unplanned pregnancy. The theoretical starting point of the study was a gender perspective involving feministic gender theory and masculinity theory. The main questions were: How does the staff at the youth clinic view the responsibility distribution between the girl and the boy involved in an unplanned pregnancy, and how does the staff explain this distribution? Are there any guidelines to how the boy and girl should be approached, and in this way ensuring that they both feel involved in the unplanned pregnancy and its consequences? How does the youth clinic staff view and discuss a gender perspective in relation to their work? The result of the study showed that at four of the clinics a difference was evident in the staffs´ views as regards participation and responsibility in the unplanned pregnancy of the boy and girl respectively.

Med denna uppsats ämnar jag att designa fiktiva stammars utseende genom att basera deras utseende på existerande stammars visuella attribut och kulturer, genom en analys. Verket består av en serie bilder som innehåller karaktärsdesigner till det fiktiva spelet ?Feral?. Texten inleds med idén bakom verket och tankar om hur olika människor relaterar till kläder. Efter det så tas syftet och de mål som har definierats upp.

In total 249 horses surgically treated for colic in Sweden during 2002 until 2005 were studied. The horses was identified by the animal insurance company Agria. Survival was studied with respect to age, gender, breed, diagnosis (small intestinal problems, caecal problems, large intestinal problems, incarceration in nephrosplenic ligament, unspecific colic and other colic problems) and treating hospital. Different survivals were calculated. For short-term survival proportions was used and for long-term it was done using Kaplan-Meier technique and log-rank testing.

The main purpose of this stydy was to evaluate the Aurora clinic (for women afraid of birth/delivery) in the south of Sweden. Questionnaires were sent to 197 women who had contact with the Aurora clinic during 2007 and 2008. The group of participants contained both pregnant women and women who have given birth. A total of 136 women replied. The results showed that both the average age and the level of education of the women were high.

The main purpose of this stydy was to evaluate the Aurora clinic (for women afraid of birth/delivery) in the south of Sweden. Questionnaires were sent to 197 women who had contact with the Aurora clinic during 2007 and 2008. The group of participants contained both pregnant women and women who have given birth. A total of 136 women replied. The results showed that both the average age and the level of education of the women were high.

Veterinary medicine is not merely an area of occupation but also an area of business. In a business the customer service is its identity and brand and more importantly what makes the client choose and recommend the clinic to other potential customers. The licensed veterinary nurse is habitually the one who first meets the clients at the clinic. Therefore it is particularly important for the licensed veterinary nurse at the clinic to offer high-quality customer service. The object of this study was to understand and elucidate how the pet owners experience the encounter with the licensed veterinary nurse at different stages in their contact with the clinic.

Background: Vaccination is an important part in cats? welfare. It both helps to prevent the individual cat from catching a disease or lessen the symptoms of it, and protects the entire cat population from an epidemic. It is the cat owner who makes the decision to vaccinate or not. Understanding the cat owners? perspective regarding vaccination may improve communication between the owner and the veterinary nurse, which may lead to a higher vaccination rate among cats.

The analysis of acute phase protein serum amyloid A (SAA) has recently been brought into clinical use in veterinary medicine. Some of the difficulties with incorporating the SAA method in clinical practice have been the expensive and rather large equipment required for the method. Due to these difficulties only larger clinics can afford to use the SAA analysis.The company Equinostic has recently developed a smaller instrument that costs one-tenth of a larger instrument. The instrument is named EVA1 and has so far only been used to analyze SAA in horses.The aim of this study was to investigate if the EVA1 instrument could be used to analyze SAA in cats. This study included 24 serum samples from cat, which were first analyzed twice on the EVA1 instrument and then sent to the Strömsholm Referral Animal Hospital in Sweden where they reanalyzed the samples using a validated reference method.

This report was written in an attempt to summarize old and new theories and scientific results regarding FORL (Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions). Several different kinds of treatment are presented in this study. Among them teeth extraction and crown amputation seems to give the best long-term results. It seems clear that the domestic cat of today have no trouble digesting dry foods without their teeth. The most accurate way to diagnose FORL is by using intraoral dental radiology technique.